Congress was swayed Tue by a 7-year-old boy on a mission to save his mom. Second-grader Saul Arellano, a US citizen, appeared in Mexico's 500-member Chamber of Deputies to plead for help in lobbying Wash to stop the deportation of his mother, an illegal immigrant who has taken refuge in a Chicago church. His efforts paid off with a resolution calling on the Bush administration to suspend the deportation of Elvira Arellano and any other illegal immigrant parents of US citizens. If the US agrees, it would "create a precedent that will benefit more than 4.9 million children who have been born in the U S and whose parents live under the threat of deportation," said Mexican congressman Jose Jacques, who lived in the US for 33 years and has an American daughter and granddaughter. Flashing cameras and swarms of reporters surrounded the boy as he entered the chamber. But instead of stepping to the podium, he was swept into a side room, where he hid his face and ducked under a table... http://abcnews.go.com

The Police Department has investigated another arrest caught on videotape, this one showing an officer using pepper spray on a transient after he had been handcuffed and shoved into a patrol car, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.This latest video was shot by a resident of the Venice Beach section, who turned it over to the transient's attorney, who then provided it to the Times.The incident occurred last year and the officer who used the pepper spray resigned before the investigation was completed. The newspaper said the officer told investigators he used the pepper spray after the transient spit on him once and tried to spit on him a second time.The Times said the videotape spawned a lengthy investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. Police spokeswoman Mary Grady would not say if any officers were disciplined because of the probe; she said pepper spray may be used when a suspect is deemed to be combative....http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-14-lapd-video-spray_x.htm?csp=34

A company that sells Bible-quoting Jesus dolls said it was surprised and disappointed that the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program turned down its offer to donate 4,000 of the talking dolls."I believe as a churchgoing person, anyone can benefit from hearing the words of the Bible," said Michael La Roe, director of business development for Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co. and its one2believe division, which makes the line of Bible character dolls.Bill Grein, vice president of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, in Quantico, Va., said the offer was turned down because Toys for Tots doesn't know anything about the religious affiliations of the children who receive its gifts."We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family," Grein said Tuesday. "Kids want a gift for the holiday season that is fun."...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,229395,00.html

On Sunday, Nov. 19th, Earth will pass through a stream of debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The result: a shower of Leonid meteors. "We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, AL. This pales in comparison to the Leonid storms of 2001 and 2002, when sky watchers saw thousands of meteors. Even so, a hundred per hour would make the Leonids one of the best showers of 2006. Right: A Leonid meteor streaks past the Orion Nebula in 2001. Photo Credit: Mark Brown of Alabama. The problem is, you have to be in the right place at the right time to see them. Earth's encounter with the comet dust is going to be brief—"possibly no more than a few hours long," says Cooke. Forecasters differ on when the outburst will occur. Estimates range from 0445 UT to 0630 UT on Nov. 19th (11:45 p.m. on Nov. 18th to 1:30 am EST on Nov. 19th). ...http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/14nov_leonids.htm?list184039

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved new guidelines Tuesday on outreach to gays, trying to support gay parishioners while strictly affirming the church stance that same-sex relationships are "disordered." Gay Catholic activists immediately judged the document a failure that will push gay and lesbians away from the church. The statement, "Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination," upholds the Catholic prohibition against same-gender marriage and adoption by gay or lesbian couples. Yet bishops insisted that they're trying to be more "welcoming than condemning." The document says it's not a sin to be attracted to someone of the same gender only to act on those feelings. The bishops also state that children of gay Catholics can undergo baptism and receive other sacraments in most cases if they are being raised in the faith. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2652329

A coalition of human rights groups has filed a criminal lawsuit against former US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld in Germany, accusing him of war crimes. A first attempt to prosecute him in 2004 failed, but the activists feel they have a better chance this time -- and they have a powerful witness on their side. It's been a bad few days for former United States secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld. First he had to fall on his sword after the Republicans lost control of Congress in last week's US mid-term elections. Now a coalition of human rights groups is taking him to court in Germany over alleged war crimes. The coalition, led by the New York-based civil rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), filed a criminal complaint against Rumsfeld on Tuesday at the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, Germany. The complaint calls on the prosecutor to investigate whether high-ranking US officials authorized war crimes in the context of the war on terror. ...http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,448320,00.html